Acromegaly: the day of surgery

The day of surgery and the those leading up to it took on a life of its own. The momentum after the decision and surgery was scheduled, it was all I could do to just keep pace with it. A new job, a new car, my kids football practices, coaches meetings, perpare for surgery, it was a whirlwind. And the thing that kept going through my head was, am I even going to be here after Aug 12? The surgery was scheduled for 7:30am so I had to be there by 5:30am. I knew that once I went to sleep the night before, there was no turning back. Trying to align the schedules of 3 very busy doctors was hard enough the first time. Was I prepared? Well, yes, I guess. But I still had no idea what to expect. I arrived on time. Hospital activity was light as one would expect at 5:30am. Parking was easily available. To my surprise, nurses were waiting for my arrival once I reached neurosurgery. They take your vitals, weigh you in and give you a bag for your personal effects. They provide you with a nicely folded gown, still warm to the touch, and gave me instructions on how to put on the gown and compression socks. "The openning should be at your back and the hole at the end of the socks is for the balls of your feet, not your toes." Got it. Everyone you make contact with will want to know your birthday and if you've eaten in the last 12 hours. I had fun saying it backwards and forwards and forwards and backwards. Despite the time, everyone seemed to be in fairly good spirits. This was in contrast to my feelings of impending doom. The anesthesiologist was the last guy I remember. He was very friendly and assured me that he would be with me the entire time, monitoring my breathing, checking my vitals and if there is any evidence of pain, he would quickly remedy it. The "evidence" as he called it was an increase in breathing. I guess it's a sign that I'm recovering at some level so he makes sure that I remain "comfortable". The time before surgery went pretty quickly. I was wheeled into the operating room at percisely 7:30am and it was as sterile as one would imagine. The table and trays are all purposeful looking, there is nothing there that isn't needed. I chose not to allow my eyes to linger too much on all the instruments. My mind has a way of empathizing their many uses. It was also very cold in the room. I mentioned it to someone and within seconds I had another pre-warmed blanket on top of me. I will say this, the Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla is top notch! I must have shown signs of nervousness because my anesthesiologist came into view and asked me how I was doing. I said I was doing okay but the nervous tap my hand was doing on my thigh was telling a different story. He said he'd give me something to help me relax. And sadly, that was it. I was planning on counting backwards indefinitely, I practiced all morning on my birthdate. But it was not to be... I was out cold with a simple sedative. I woke up around 12pm as I was being wheeled into my recovery room. I heard someone say room 427 as I awoke. They asked me if I knew what day it was. It was Aug 12, 2008, Tues. They asked me if I knew where I was and I said room 427. They laughed. Do you know why you're here? To remove a tumor... Yes, Mr. Del Rio, welcome back. I was glad to be back and I felt pretty good. I was a little tired but otherwise none too worse for wear. I didn't feel any pain but I did feel a lot of pressure, mostly in my nose, but otherwise I didn't feel a whole lot of anything. By 2pm I was starting to feel stuff, though it was very general and I wasn't sure what I was feeling to be honest, I was definitley beginning to feel things as the medication began to wear off. The pressure in my head was most prevalent and my nurse would come in periodically to ask if I needed anything. I would just shrug and say I was okay. "Do you want any morphine?" Do what? Are you kidding? I must have declined the morphine request at least a half-dozen times but by 3:30pm, I was starting to feel things, bad things, pain and lots of it. I called the nurse and she said, okay, why don't we give it another 30 mins. Oh, okay. It was okay when you wanted to push it but now that I'm requesting it, it's best to wait??? 4pm came and so did my shot of morphine. Another nurse came in at the same time and upon hearing that I was feeling "pain", suggested that there was no need for me to feel uncomfortable so if this shot of morphine didn't work, they'd be happy to give me another. My mind quickly started racing about the condition I would be leaving the hospital and whether or not I'd have to battle a mophine addiction in addition to acromegaly. I must confess to my ignorance and potential pharma-phobic tendencies. I never understood drugs and their propensity to create problems rather than actually fix anything. And I will never understand how the pharmaceutical companies "push" their cocktails of drugs while down-playing all the side effects and warnings. But I digress... They assured me that there was no chance for me to develop an addiction and it was merely to allow me to feel comfortable enough to allow the healing process to begin. Ah, well that's different. Fire away. Within 30 mins, 4:30pm, I had my 3rd shot of mophine. The first 2 were 1mg while the 3rd was 2mg's, and while this seemed like a lot, I really didn't feel anything. I wasn't sure what to expect or even what to feel. For some reason I was expecting some sort of euphoric feeling but that wasn't the case. It was a case of simply feeling nothing to the extent that I questioned whether or not I was receiving a placebo. They assured me I was not... :) All I remember about the rest of the evening was Agnes, my evening nurse (with a strong accent). Every hour, on the hour, I'd hear, "Hello, it's Agnes... Hello? I have to check your vitals, how are you feeling? Hello? It's Agnes. I have to take your BP, can you open your eyes and lift your tongue? Hello? It's Agnes..." At 9pm, at 10pm, at 11pm, at 12am, ... by 3am I thought the evening would never end, then 4am, then 5am, then 6am, then ... Beth! It was 7am and Beth was back! Oh Beth, why did you ever leave me... I kept having this horrible dream...